The Ballad Of Sean And Wilko (The Christy Kennedy Mysteries Book 4)

by Paul Charles

  The bottom matching side of the same page had a rough sketch of what looked like seven musicians on a stage. A couple of the little figures looked like they may have guitars around their necks. But as KP’s artistic influences took after the hangman style, the little figures had both their arms up in the air, away from their would-be guitars. There was a mess at the back which could have been a drum kit, and another which looked like a bath on high legs at the front which could have been Sean Green’s keyboard. Underneath the band he had drawn a line and underneath that he had written the word WHERE?

  On the first sheet, dead centre, was a large heart. Inside the heart KP had written:

  McGEE!

  L

  WILKO

  L

  ?

  Due to the close proximity of the heart, Kennedy assumed the Ls stood for love. On the top left of the page and heavily scored out, was the word FRAC or it might even have been TRAC.

  Tracey McGee?

  Underneath, close to the bottom of the heart, was the note:

  McGEE NOT IN TRY TWICE.

  On the top right-hand side of the heart was:

  12 MIN BREAK

  and underneath that, bottom right of the heart,

  CLARKEY

  MACDONALD

  SLATTERY

  All with pen lines through the middle. Across the bottom of the heart was a large

  DINGWALLS

  With a thick wavy line underneath completing that part of the paper.

  So KP had ruled out Robert Clarke, James MacDonald and Slattery from his list of suspects. But why were they on there in the first place? Had he been trying to ring Tracey McGee? Was she out when he rang? Or, more like, she just wasn’t in for KP? Perhaps KP was aware of this because he made a note to himself to try her twice. 12 MIN BREAK. Did this refer to the length of time Wilko was off stage and consequently the amount of time the murderer had to work with? And why DINGWALLS? Was KP, indeed, saying, “why Dingwalls?”? Did this mean, why were Circles playing Dingwalls? Or did it mean why was Dingwalls used as the murder venue?

  On the bottom section of the paper, KP had written the following list:

  TETLEYS, SAINSB ORANGES, SPUDS, COOKIES, PITTA B, HOMOUS, 2 PACS LADIES NICKS x MED M & S, BULBS x 3 x 60 WATT, R.J. WELCH, DOSH – 200 QUID BANK

  Even in the midst of his trauma, KP had managed to jot down his shopping list. The Marks and Sparks item, which is what he assumed the M & S line referred to, intrigued Kennedy.

  And that was it. Somewhere on those scraps of paper was a clue.

  ‘It’s as expected, Christy,’ Taylor began. He was on the phone to North Bridge House mid-Tuesday morning. ‘Same as Mr Robertson. Stabbed straight in the heart with an extremely thin sharp instrument. The heart was punctured. He would have died very quickly.’

  ‘Oh,’ Kennedy wasn’t sure there was much comfort to be taken from that. ‘And the time of death?’

  ‘As we predicted, I’d say he died at the latest six thirty yesterday afternoon.’

  ‘Anything else?’ Kennedy continued asking another of his routine questions in his routine fashion.

  ‘Well, not really. Unless, of course you would consider the fact that he was wearing ladies underwear to be of interest.’

  ‘Pardon?’

  ‘Yes, I believe it’s more common than we might think and I understand it’s a lot more comfortable, although I’m not sure they come in my size.’

  ‘Doctor!’

  ‘Just kidding. But I am serious about KP.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Kennedy said. ‘See you later.’

  Kennedy set the phone down absent-mindedly. You just never know about people, do you?

  Coles returned to Kennedy’s office shortly thereafter to advise him that KP had made twenty-three calls during his final day.

  1.11.53North Bridge House3 minutes

  2.11.58Sean Green6 minutes

  3.12.05Robertson household1 minute

  4.13.02Leslie Russell11 minutes

  5.13.30Robertson household1 minute

  6.15.02Sean Green17 minutes

  7.15.20Dingwalls5 minutes

  8.15.45Robertson household3 minutes

  9.15.47Leslie Russell10 minutes

  10.17.00Parkway Pizza5 minutes

  11.17.15Sean Green7 minutes

  12.18.03North Bridge House2 minutes

  At least part of Kennedy’s assessment of the scribbling was correct – the bits concerning the calls to Tracey McGee and himself. But the others – what information had KP gathered as his day progressed? In the middle of his hectic day KP still had time for food. Once with Kennedy and once at the Parkway Pizza. And his call to Dingwalls, what was that all about? Kennedy felt sure that there was something to be learned from these calls and their sequence. But where to start?

  Kennedy had scored three items from KP’s telephone list. Two to North Bridge House, and one to the Parkway Pizza. Next he called the number listed for Dingwalls and was put through to Miss Violet Rodgers, the same person he believed KP would have been put through to the previous day.

  ‘Yes, Kevin Paul did ring here yesterday.’

  ‘Do you remember what he wanted?’

  ‘Yes, I do as a matter of fact,’ the owner of Dingwalls replied. ‘He asked me if I ever noticed any members of Circles coming into the club. I told him the only two members of the band I would recognise would be Sean Green and Wilko Robertson and Wilko never came here, he did all his drinking up in the Spread Eagle, but Sean used to come in here quite a bit to check out the new bands.’

  ‘Did he ask you anything else?’

  ‘He asked me did we ever use any dressing rooms apart from the one we gave Circles on the night Wilko died.’

  Good question, Kennedy thought to himself and he put a star next to Dingwalls name on the list, ‘And do you?’

  ‘No, that’s the only one we have for now. When the venue was rebuilt about eight years ago we thought we were going to specialise in comedy. Comedians tend not to need a dressing room as much as musicians. They just need their own corner of the bar and they’re happy. But now that we’re getting into lots of live bands we do need proper dressing rooms and, equally important, we also need the storeroom we currently use as a makeshift dressing room, back as a storeroom. It’s the only one with a dumb waiter and so when that room is being used as a dressing room one of the lads has to carry the various brands of liquid refreshments up the stairs.

  ‘What I’m planning to do is convert the space at the back of the venue, just above the artists’ entrance, into a couple of dressing rooms with showers and toilets. That’s what I told Kevin. He was so polite, I like him very much, he has a real twinkle in his eye, you know?’

  Kennedy advised the owner that sadly KP was now also dead. Violette Rodgers was gutted, as Steve Davies would have said, but Kennedy had a funny feeling the owner of Dingwalls Dancehall really meant it.

  He considered the list further. The remaining eight calls were spread over three people, or so he thought. He sought out Leslie Russell’s number and dialled it but hung up before it connected. He stood up from his desk, grabbed his coat and went to look for Coles. He found her round by Flynn’s desk. Kennedy asked her to fetch a car.

  He had decided to interview the other three names on the list in person. He wanted to see their faces when he was discussing KP’s death.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  As ever, Leslie Russell offered Kennedy a warm welcome and paid more than a little attention to WPC Coles.

  Kennedy wasn’t sure what KP and Russell had been talking about on the phone, but he knew the solicitor would relay it more or less word for word. He was a lot more sceptical about his next two stops, at the Green household and the Robertson household. Russell had already heard the news about KP and was deeply saddened. He told Kennedy how fond he was of KP. They’d worked closely together over the years.

  ‘Have you any idea who did it?’

  ‘We’re working on a few leads,’ Kennedy said, and
mentioned KP’s calls the previous day.

  ‘Yes indeed, Kevin rang me twice yesterday,’ Leslie Russell advised the police.

  ‘May we ask what he was ringing you about?’ Kennedy asked.

  ‘Of course. He wanted to know if Wilko had signed his new deal with the band. As I’ve told you before,’ Russell nodded to Kennedy, ‘that deal had yet to be signed. He asked me what were the major sticking points in the contract, why it hadn’t been signed. I told him that it all just had to be finalised at that stage. All the main points had been agreed. Wilko had got what he wanted, money payments, percentages and bonuses, and he didn’t really care about the rest.’

  ‘And what else did you and KP discuss?’ Coles enquired.

  ‘Well, let’s see. He asked me where we stood with the agreement now that Wilko had died without signing it. I told him that, quite simply, it didn’t exist and that it’s conditions were unenforceable. He asked if that meant Susan Robertson would benefit from the conditions of the new deal. I told him that it wasn’t my call. That was entirely down to Sean. He asked me, what, in the worst-case scenario, this would mean Susan might inherit. I told him she would continue to receive Wilko’s share as per Sean and Wilko’s agreement; the one made when Wilko left the band. He then asked me whether I was aware of any insurance policies Wilko and Susan might have taken out on his life?’

  ‘Yes we’d already checked that ourselves and discovered he hadn’t,’ Coles stated, as much for the record, Kennedy felt, as anything else.

  ‘Correct, a fact I advised KP of.’

  ‘Anything else?’ Kennedy continued, as he took a swig of his tea. ‘Yes. He asked me if Wilko had any pension plans or anything which matured upon his death. I told him, as I’m sure you’ve also discovered,’ Russell began with a nod in Coles’ direction, ‘that there were absolutely none. They were a pet hate of Wilko’s, a fact KP remembered when I brought it up. He’d always had other, more immediate, priorities for his money.’

  ‘A very polite way of putting it, Leslie,’ Kennedy smiled. ‘Do you know if Wilko had anything put aside for Tracey McGee?’

  ‘Another of KP’s questions and the answer is no. I drew up the original papers, and I don’t believe they’ve been changed, where absolutely everything goes to his widow, including the apartment. I don’t believe he had much, apart from the property and his Circles’ money.’

  ‘How much is the property worth?’ Kennedy asked.

  ‘I’m not sure,’ Russell replied.

  ‘About one hundred and twenty thousand pounds,’ Coles spoke up, referring to her notes.

  ‘You see, Christy? As ever you chaps are ahead of me,’ Russell replied, and sighed a sigh of feigned regret. ‘I think that was pretty much the contents of the first telephone call.’

  ‘Tell me, do you think that Sean would have made additional funds available for Tracey McGee? I mean outside the terms of the current contract?’ Kennedy asked.

  ‘I couldn’t possibly comment on that, nor would I want to hazard a guess,’ Russell replied.

  ‘Okay,’ Kennedy replied, and continued, ‘what about the second call, the one late in the afternoon – what was that one about?’

  ‘Well, that was more about Sean Green. He asked me several questions I couldn’t, for professional reasons, give him answers to.’

  ‘Such as?’

  ‘How much was Sean worth? Had I ever seen Sean and Wilko argue? What were Sean’s plans for the group now that Wilko was no longer around? What was KP’s position now? Would the band continue with Robert Clarke back as lead singer? How long was Sean going to keep Edwards on as manager? He also asked me how close Sean and Colette were.’

  ‘Interesting,’ Kennedy cut in. ‘We know, by the way, about Colette’s history. She told us about it herself.’

  Russell shrugged his shoulders, saying nothing. After a moment’s silence, he spoke.

  ‘He also asked me did I know if Colette and Wilko had any communication these days.’

  Kennedy was well aware that Russell was now in a very awkward position. Being involved with the band for such a long time, Leslie Russell knew all the dirty washing. He’d seen managers come and go. He’d seen egos come and grow. He’d seen fortunes come and be dealt with wisely by Sean and foolishly by Wilko. But through all of this Russell was professional, giving his advice only to matters that concerned him, and then only when asked. He kept his position by being discreet – as discreet as he was now being with two members of the Camden Town CID when he answered his own question.

  ‘And I told him that to my knowledge, there was no communication between Wilko and Colette. He then asked me why Circles had played Dingwalls when they could, in KP’s eyes, have played the Royal Albert Hall. I told him I knew Sean had been responsible for the decision. And that,’ Russell concluded, ‘was pretty much all we talked about.’

  Discreet as ever, Kennedy thought. Even now Russell was leaving himself the slightest of openings in case anything else should crop up that he’d be called to task on. Kennedy couldn’t feel bad about it, he knew Leslie Russell was doing his job as best he knew how. Which was, the detective had to admit, pretty darned good.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  ‘Okay, let’s head to the Green’s of England’s Lane.’

  ‘That should be interesting,’ Coles replied, as she engaged the engine of their unmarked car. ‘Did we get much from the solicitor?’

  ‘I’m not sure, to be truthful. What do you think?’

  ‘Well, we confirmed a lot of things we already knew about Wilko,’ Coles began.

  ‘I don’t mean that. I mean, additional info. What additional info do you think we found out?’ Kennedy pushed.

  ‘Well, I wasn’t one hundred per cent convinced on the Wilko and Colette not seeing each other line. I think there’s more there than he’s telling us.’

  ‘Good, yes, but you’re still not thinking along the lines I am.’

  ‘I’m lost then, sir,’ she admitted honestly.

  ‘Well, the point of following the calls KP made yesterday is as much an attempt to try and pick up his trail. Try to see what he was chasing down; whatever angle he was working on was on the correct one, otherwise someone wouldn’t have felt the need to get rid of him. Would anyone directly benefit financially from Wilko’s death? He drew a blank there, as indeed we did. So he spreads his arc wider, to cover Robert Clarke, Tracey McGee, Susan Robertson and Edwards. He mustn’t have been serious about Edwards because he didn’t even make KP’s list. That brings us back to Sean Green and his wife, Colette. Quite convenient,’ Kennedy said as they pulled into England’s Lane.

  ‘I suppose you’ve come about KP?’ Green asked as he opened the door. ‘Who on earth would do such a thing?’

  ‘Yes, Sean. We’ve come to ask you a few questions. You’ll be fed up with us by the time all this is over,’ Kennedy replied as he took off his overcoat.

  ‘No chance, never. I really want to help you nail the person who killed Kevin,’ was Green’s reply. He then added, ‘Oh, and Wilko of course. Do you think there’s any chance the same person is responsible for both murders?’

  ‘Well, I think that would be a fair assumption, wouldn’t you? Tell me, is your wife in?’

  ‘Why yes. Is it her you’ve come to see?’

  Kennedy wasn’t sure, but he thought he might have spotted a hint of panic in Green’s eyes.

  ‘No, actually we’d like to see both of you together, if you don’t mind,’ Kennedy answered.

  ‘Perfectly fine with me. Show yourselves up to the study, you know where it is. I’ll follow you up,’ Green offered.

  ‘Is Mrs Green down in the kitchen?’ Kennedy asked, knowing the answer to his own question. ‘Why don’t we go down there? It’ll be a lot quicker. We’ve got a lot to get through today, haven’t we, WPC Coles?’

  The detective didn’t want Sean Green briefing his wife before they all had a chance to chat. Green reluctantly nodded and led the police down to the kitchen. A task not
so easy for some, say those with platform soles.

  Colette greeted them warmly, wiping her hands on her apron, and crossed the room to shake Kennedy’s hand. Kennedy introduced WPC Coles.

  ‘Oh, it’s so sad about Kevin, isn’t it. He was such a dear, sweet man,’ Colette began.

  ‘We’re trying to go through Kevin’s last day to find what he discovered. I spoke with him several times yesterday and he seemed very sure he was on the trail of Wilko’s murderer.’

  ‘No! Really?’ Sean uttered as he glanced at his wife.

  ‘Oh, yes. He went through a lot of his information with me and in fact I was speaking to him on the phone just after six o’clock. He had to break off the call in a hurry. Apparently he was about to spring a trap on a certain person,’ Kennedy said. He was picking his words very carefully. ‘We see from the records that he rang here on three separate occasions yesterday.’

  ‘No, sorry. That’s not in fact correct. He only rang here twice yesterday,’ Sean corrected the detective.

  ‘Well, I have the official Orange log of KP’s mobile calls for the day, and your telephone number showed up three times yesterday,’ Kennedy replied.

  ‘I’m sorry to contradict you, inspector, but I took only two calls, one at noon and the other just after five. That was it,’ Green insisted.

  ‘Um, not quite, dear,’ his wife corrected him. ‘I took a call from Kevin just after three, so that would make Inspector Kennedy’s notes correct.’

  ‘You didn’t tell me he ra…’ Sean started to speak but apparently thought better of it.

  ‘You were busy. He said he had a few questions for me, and we had a chat,’ Colette replied.

  Kennedy played a hunch. He decided to have Colette relay her recollection of the telephone conversation first.

  ‘Well, first off,’ Colette began, ‘he told me he was trying to track down Wilko’s murderer. He said initially he was excited but the further he dug into it the more depressed he was becoming.’

  ‘Did he ask you specific questions?’ Kennedy asked.